ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Alert: New loan repayment assistance update
- 2009 Equal Justice Works Fellowships application now available
- Equal Justice Works names 2008 public interest law leaders
Equal Justice Works Katrina Initiative
In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast region.
Hundreds of thousands of people were left without homes, jobs, access to heath care or social services.
Equal Justice Works rallied 19 lawyers and hundreds of law students to aid survivors of the storms.
These are a few of their stories.
Survivors of the Storm: Securing Justice in Post-Katrina America
(Download QuickTime here.)
About the Initiative
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita physically devastated the Gulf Coast region and disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of families and individuals in some of the poorest communities in the nation. In the aftermath, there is an unprecedented need for legal assistance, exacerbated by the fact that the Gulf Coast region has the lowest level of funding for legal aid programs in the country.
Equal Justice Works has obtained a $1 million matching grant from the JEHT Foundation to sponsor public interest attorneys to work in the Gulf Coast region for up to two years, providing direct legal services to Gulf Coast residents in need and generating pro bono opportunities for lawyers and law students.
Beyond meeting immediate, hurricane-related legal needs, the Equal Justice Works Katrina Initiative will foster the development of long-term pro bono and legal aid infrastructures.
Katrina Initiative Funders
Equal Justice Works thanks the following donors for their contributions to fund the Equal Justice Works Katrina Initiative:
- ALM
- Association of Corporate Counsel
- Bingham McCutchen
- Corporation for National and Community Service
- Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
- Gilbert Heintz & Randolph LLP
- Greenberg Traurig, LLP
- JEHT Foundation
- Latham & Watkins LLP
- Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo P.C.
- Nixon Peabody LLP
- Ohio State Bar Foundation Hurricane Katrina Legal Relief Fund
- Pfizer Inc
- Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP
Katrina Initiative Programs
Download the Katrina Initiative fact sheet (pdf 104KB)
Equal Justice Works has established the Katrina Legal Fellowships Program to send up to nine experienced public interest lawyers to the Gulf Coast for two years, working in the areas hardest hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This new Fellowships Program will place lawyers at organizations located in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas in order to help the hundreds of thousands of people left without homes, jobs and social services due to the damage from the hurricanes.
In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Equal Justice Works plans to expand its Pro Bono Legal Corps program, sending 10 Equal Justice Works/AmeriCorps Attorneys to the hardest hit areas in the Gulf Coast region. These attorneys will be placed at organizations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to help the hundreds of thousands of people left without homes, jobs and social services due to the damage from the hurricane.
Equal Justice Works is committed to setting aside 65 Summer Corps slots for law students who are providing disaster-related legal services in the Gulf Coast region. Students are eligible for these slots if the primary purpose of their internships is to assist hurricane Survivors or evacuees in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi or Texas.